President Obama recently created a "Debt Commission" to propose a broad plan for reducing US debt, and packed it with Wall Stret-owned Democrats and Republicans who see Social Security cuts as part of the solution.

Meanwhile, private equity king Peter G Peterson continues funnelling millions from his personal fortune into think tanks and propaganda campaigns that warn of an imminent Social Security funding crisis and propose benefit cuts and privatization (mandatory Wall Street-run private savings accounts!) as the solution.

This research group aims to answer a few important questions:

• Which people and organizations, especially Wall Street insiders, are funding efforts to gut Social Security?
• Do any of these people stand to personally profit from their own proposed Social Security reforms?
• What are the key think tanks, policy planning groups, media organizations, and lobbyists behind these efforts?
• Who are their key allies within in the Federal government?

Essential background reading:

• Obama Packs Debt Commission with Social Security Looters (LittleSis)
• Wall Street Took Your House and Your Retirement, Now They're After Your Social Security (Ellen Hodgson Brown)
• Looting Social Security (William Greider)
• The War on Social Insurance: the Nexus (Bruce Webb)
• Social Security Q&A (Doug Orr)
• Social Security: The Phony Crisis - Intro & Chapter 1 (Baker & Weisbrot)